Two new cases of H7N9 bird flu were reported in China in October. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, the University’s Vaccine Research Unit is testing a new vaccine candidate in case H7N9 makes its way to the U.S.

Cardiologists Arthur Moss and Spencer Rosero talked to The New York Times about the reality of a scene from the show "Homeland" in which a terrorist atttacks the vice president's computerized implanted defibrillator and kills him. Is this fact or fiction?

After a memorable day in the lab or at the hospital, try writing a 55-word story to capture your inner most thoughts and experiences. This month in the journal Family Medicine, Colleen T. Fogarty, M.D., presents a collection of these cathartic writings. Like haiku (or twitter), the low word count forces the writer to connect with what’s important, and to explicitly share challenges, regrets, empathy.

Why do we sleep? It is a question that has long puzzled scientists and philosophers alike. While the ancient Greeks saw sleep as a doorway to the divine, scientists and biologists see it as an invitation to be devoured by nocturnal predators. A new study – appearing today in the journal Science – may provide the answer: when we sleep our brain ‘takes out the trash.’

Scientists are scrambling to gather data for the FDA to support the need for a blood test to diagnose brain injury in the United States. The University of Rochester Medical Center just added significant evidence by reporting in the Journal of Neurotrauma that it might be clinically useful to measure two brain biomarkers instead of one.

About the Blog

The goal of this blog is to bring more medical research stories to light and provide our readers with timely and engaging coverage of scientific and medical developments here in Rochester and beyond.

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